Maxim MDS 1000 - Simmons SDS V clone from the 1987

Published on Feb 4, 2017 100 Things I Do

"The Maxim MDS 1000 is a 1:1 design clone of the classic Simmons SDS 5. How close a clone you may ask? Well, I was able to use SDS V schematics to repair the MSD1000!

The majority of the board is consumed with logic chips for the preset bank selection. Other than that its very basic where you have tone , noise and bend as you main generators, followed with a Decay envelope. As you can see I picked up this unit in very sorry but complete state (with some original Maxim SDS Copy drum pads).

Due to cheap production of the PCB it suffered from a lot of broken solder joints, and some horrible layout. Traces will break and lift almost no matter what you do when working on the PCB. The Main connector between the front panel and the PCB is a major point of pain and I ended up running point to point wires to stop this failing in future. I still have not fixed the logic on the Low tom and the Bass Tom needs a new SSM 2044 and Sensitivity potentiometer.

All in all if you can find one at a good price (and you have the ability to do some tweaking of the Filter and noise inside the unit) you have a source of true analog SDS V sounds at what should be much less cost than an original."

There have only been a handful of Maxim MDS 1000 posts on the site.

Maxim MDS-1000 Analog Drum Brain - Simmons SDS V Clone

via this auction

via the seller:

"This is a mighty piece of engineering.
In a time when analog filter chips were plentiful, and XLR connectivity apparantly grew on trees, a company in Japan no-one has really heard of since (not the Maxim that made pedals) decided skimp on R&D and just Clone the leading competition with a product almost identical, but "unique" and "different"...

Each card has an SSM2044, some 3080s and a few other nice pieces. Some of the digital chips (patch switching for example) might be a bit flaky... There's no MIDI, the triggers work at different velocities. You could use all the outputs on the PTX8 I'm selling to drive this. It kind of works (I tried it once)."

inside a Maxim MDS-1000

Also see the seller's 24 Unit Rack.

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MAXIM MDS-100 ANALOG DRUM SYNTHESIZER

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction

"AMAZING MAXIM MDS-1000 ANALOG DRUM SYNTHESIZER
5 SYNTHS- BASS-SNARE-HIGH TOM- MID TOM - LOW TOM
EACH CHANNEL HAS CONTROLS FOR
- NOISE
- TONE
- BEND
- DECAY
- BALANCE FOR NOISE AND TONE
- BALANCE FOR CLICK AND DRUM

BASICALLY A CLONE OF THE SIMMONS SDSV BUT MUCH BETTER BUILD QUALITY
IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION
110V"

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maxim mds-1000 (no talking hq audio)

video upload by #onedrumcomputeraday

"quick demo of this rare simmons sds v clone from japanese company maxim. built in the 80s each card features a SSM2044 filter and some other nice components."

MAXIM MDS-1000 ANALOG DRUM BRAIN

via this auction

"There are slides for the different effects on the front side, these include noise, tone, bend, decay, balance one and balance two. I did not test the loops effect or trigger input, there was no trigger device with this when i purchased it. There are adjuster screws for noise, tone, bend, decay, balance one and balance two that probably adjust output or line levels, There is one for left and right output. These are located on the front side of the unit..."

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1984 MAXIM MDS-1000 Geman Ad

via synthmuseum.de

Maxim MDS-1000

via Loscha.

"It appears to be a Simmons clone. No other images appear to be available online.

Appears to have SSM2044 per channel, and lots of other nice things. Quite solid in design, all balanced, had a 9 pin Molex on the back so you can hook up all your triggers in one easy connector, would have been convenient on the road."

More images:
MDS1000-a.jpg
MDS1000-b.jpg
MDS1000-c.jpg
MDS1000-d.jpg
MDS1000-e.jpg
MDS1000-f.jpg

Strange Synthesizers of Japan by Hiromichi Oohashi - Synth Book w/ CD

Hiromichi Oohashi wrote in to let us know about his new synth book featuring rare and somewhat strange synthesizers from Japan. The book features synths from his collection along with a CD of audio/music. You can find the book via the publisher Rittor Music (Japan) (published Nov.2021), and on Amazon JP here.

You can find a list of the synths featured by chapter further below.

Details on the book from Hiromichi Oohashi follow.

"This art book introduces many of Japanese most rare and strange electronic musical instruments (1960s~1980s) from author's private collection for long years.

Contains over 130 synthesizers, rhythm machines, organs, toy instruments, speech synths, etc most of these rare instruments will be the first public release. All color pages, lot of beautiful photo of these unique instruments with simple and detailed text, all photos and book design by author himself.

Contribution from Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO)

Foreword by Eric Schneider (author of TOY INSTRUMENTS/MBP)

Attached CD has original music using these strange instruments so you can hear what these synth sounds like.

CD's music made by author's band KINO-MODERNO (world-renowned electronic music duo)



Hiromichi Oohashi is an artist born in Tokyo 1961
after studied art & design at Kuwazawa Design School in Tokyo
works as an artist and producer for Art, Design and Music
also known as collector of rare electronic musical instruments
in 1990 released groundbreaking [ VIDEO DRUG2/Phuture ] and get noticed
member of electronic music duo KINO-MODERNO since 1984
president of DAT PLANET PRODUKT"

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